As emergency assistance begins to arrive in cyclone devastated Vanuatu, an international conference on disaster risk reduction considered actions to assist threatened Pacific island nations in warding off future disasters.

The UK has passed a bill that enshrines in law its commitment to spend 0.7% of its gross national income (GNI) on aid every year, making it the first G7 country to meet the UN’s 45-year-old aid spending target.

President Barack Obama proclaimed March to be "Women's History Month", calling Americans to mark IWD by reflecting on "the extraordinary accomplishments of women" in shaping the country's history. Also, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the "100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges", on the eve of IWD.

We cannot forget that international development is also in the best interests of EU citizens. A number of issues such as illegal migration, climate change and terrorism can be best tackled at the root with international aid and support on the ground.

Last June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a far-reaching administrative ruling that offered marital benefits for the first time to all of the United Nations’ lesbian and gay employees, as well as to other U.N. workers who had entered legally recognized domestic partnerships. On Monday, March 2, Russia gave the plan a resounding nyet.

Now, more than a year after South Sudan’s leaders plunged their country into a nasty civil war, the nation has become something of a test of diplomacy between the United States and China, raising the question: Can Washington and Beijing turn their mutual interests in South Sudan into a shared strategy to stop the bloodshed?

An exhibition revealing Turkey’s history as a refuge for those seeking shelter from conflict and oppression has been opened at the UN office in Geneva, after being shown previously in the United States and Canada.

Britain will mark the recently- declared 'World Yoga Day' by the United Nations with a mega event on June 21, in what may be seen as India's growing "soft power" in the world.